Seòmar agus comataidhean

Good morning to our witnesses. I appreciate your time.

The consultation had 61 questions with a range of proposals and various options. What are your views on how it was designed and undertaken?

I will start with Susan Burt.

Thank you, Jenny. Joe, do you have any comments?

Thank you for that, Susan—I appreciate that.

Jamie, do you want to come in?

Thanks for your responses.

Good morning. It is quite clear from the discussion that the 2017 act has led to improvements in the availability of local data on child poverty. I want to give folk the opportunity to make additional comments on that if they want to. I will go to Peter Kelly first.

I am interested in the examples that Mr Booth gave of how Glasgow City Council changed local policies in response to insights from local data on child poverty. Glasgow’s report says that you are making progress on ensuring that that data informs policy. Can you comment on examples that arise from the data? How are you sharing the data not only inside the council, but outside the council with key partners?

Good morning to the cabinet secretary and his officials. With the election of a new UK Labour Government in July, I am interested in hearing about any discussions that have taken place with it on its position on safer drug consumption facilities, drug testing and related issues. If you have not had those discussions, do you have plans to do so in the future?

There are three drug-checking facilities in Scotland. I know that they are part of a pilot, but is there any scope to include additional facilities if they are required?

That is not without its challenges because of the geographical area that you have to cover.

Do you feel empowered by the Scottish Government to conclude that there is insufficient local demand? I am interested in your thoughts on that.

Good morning. It is great to see the witnesses this morning, and I thank them for their time.

The Scottish Government has said that any

“new National Parks should be designated in response to local community demand.”

What is your approach to assessing local demand for the Galloway proposal? Obviously, that would cover diverse interests and the rural areas there.